Hostage situation over at jail in Sept-les, Que. - Action News
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Hostage situation over at jail in Sept-les, Que.

A female correctional officer is no longer being held hostage at the jail in Sept-les, Que., sources tell Radio-Canada, but police will not comment on her condition.

2 suspects surrendered, police say

A security perimeter has been set up around the courthouse and jail. (Katy Larouche/Radio-Canada)

A correctional officer is safe after being held hostage at the jail inSept-les, Que., according to provincial police.

On Twitter, theSret du Qubec confirmed the hostage situation is over. Police tweeted that thetwo suspects, aged 22 and 26, had surrendered.

On Wednesday afternoon, inmates at the jail took the officer hostage. Quebec's provincial police were called to thefacility around 3 p.m. ET. At that time, the building was evacuated and a security perimeter was set up.

Radio-Canada reports thata man was taken out of the jail in handcuffs around 6:30 p.m. ET.

The building, which houses a detention centre in the basement and the town's court on the main levels, is located in downtown Sept-les.

Police have not released many details about the hostage, except that she's a female correctional officer.

Police are also not commenting on the motive of the inmates.

Code red

A lawyer who was inside the courthouse during the evacuation saidhe's never seen anything like this in 30 years.

Michel Savard said he was asked to leave the building due to a "code red."

"From my experience, I thought that a code red was a hostage-taking, or something like that. Something that isn't good. Something that requires maximum security," he said.

After leaving the building, he was told he could leave for the day.

Long wait for new jail

The town of 25,000 has been waiting for a new detention centre for about25 years.

Successive governments hadpromised butdidn't deliver on a new jail. The Quebecgovernment first announced construction plansin 1989, with the most recent promise coming in 2013.

While construction is now under way, thenewjaillocated about 10 kilometres away from the current onehas yet to open. Accordingto the government'swebsite, it was due to open in thespring of 2016.

Sept-lesis located about 650 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.

With files from Radio-Canada